The Old Man

Brandon walked through the woods on a normal morning hike. He does this every morning, and most mornings he passes an older man who is sitting on a carved log. The log is cut into the clean shape of a chair, and it overlooks the most perfect view of what appears to be the entire mountain range unfolding before him. The chair is large enough for two people to sit, but Brandon always stands there next to the older man. Neither of them says a word to each other, and after a few minutes, Brandon says, “Have a great day!” and walks off, continuing his walk.

This morning was different. He turned to the old man, “I certainly hope you are having a great day!”

“With sunrises like that, how is it possible for anything else?” He replied to Brandon.

Brandon started walking down his path. Heading back to his house after his normal hour walk in the woods early in the morning, right around sunrise each day. But before he did. The old man called him back.

“Brandon.” The old man said.

Brandon stopped dead in his tracks. He had never said his name in all the time they had seen each other, and maybe said a total of 10 words; he never told the man his name. How did this guy know his name?

He walked back over to the log where the old man was sitting. And looked at his face. As if for the first time. He recognized the man. He reminded him of his father. Then he realized. It was him.

Brandon was standing there on a trail. Looking at a very old man. Who was he, actually? Wait, the older man was him, a much older version of himself. A lifetime from now.

“I see you finally recognize me.” The old man said. “We need to talk.”

Brandon was dumbfounded. “How are you here?”

“It’s a long story, but suffice it to say, I was passed this trinket today, your today.” He pointed to the range and the mountain vista before them both. “When the sun peeks over that mountain, just barely, look straight up.”

A minute later, the sun peeked over the tip of the farthest mountain, and Brandon looked straight up. At that moment, a meteor entered the atmosphere and exploded. Pieces of it fell over the place they were standing.

“Pick up the rock at your feet.” He said.

Brandon picked up the rock. Its shape reminded him of a computer mouse, but it was much smaller, about a quarter of a mouse's size. But this rock was absolutely beautiful. The colors swirled, but they were all dark. Reds, blues, oranges, greens, purples, and one thin, clean, bright white line was clear in the mix of colors. The rock was warm, but not hot.

“That is a magic stone.”

Brandon looked at him like his nose just grew a few inches. “Seriously.” The man pulled a stone from a pocket, and it matched, exactly, the stone Brandon had in his hand. “Where did you get that?” Brandon asked.

“Same place you did. It fell from the sky and landed at my feet today. When it was my today. But today is your today, and it is my yesterday.”

Brandon was curious. “Magic… Rock?”

The old man smiled. “Well, not so much magic as science. It produces a safe form of radiation that the holder, once they understand how it works, can use to travel.”

“Travel? Travel where?”

“Anywhere. As in anywhere, any time. For example, think of yesterday. Exactly 24 hours ago at sunrise.”

Brandon was holding the rock and thought of yesterday. He remembered the sky was very cloudy yesterday; a moment later, the sun’s light vanished, and he was standing in the same spot, but the cloud cover was as he remembered it. He looked to the right and saw himself walking away, down the trail. The man held up a finger and waited a minute until he was far enough away that their conversation could not be heard.

“Now, I have about six minutes, and I will vanish. I know this because, when I was your age, I remember this conversation. I need you to know what you are holding.”

Brandon sat on the log next to him, and they turned a bit toward each other.

“Here it is. Remember this. That rock has a radioactive signature that only you can use to travel in time. It is a finite amount of radiation that is expended to move you to a new place, a new time. Well, not so much a new place, since where you are is where you end up. That’s why you popped into yesterday here on the trail.”

Brandon scratched his head.

“The farther you move, either into yesterday or tomorrow, the more energy is released from the rock, and the recharge time is extended the farther you travel.”

“Really?”

“Yep! So a day means a few minutes. If you travel for a week, it takes between 1 and 2 hours. I got so bored once that I traveled five years into the future and was stuck there for almost a week. But I learned a lot about myself, my family, my friends, and, of course, the stock market. I picked up a book that contained the greatest stock trends and prices in history. When I got home, I read that book and started buying stocks. I spent thousands of dollars, and my broker thought I was nuts. A year later, I was half a billion dollars richer. Now, well, I have stupid money. Can’t give it away fast enough.”

He paused a moment. “And before you ask, I still live in the same house, drive a nice car, and work teaching a few things I learned over the years. Mostly to kids.”

“So, I’m gonna be rich!”

“No, kid. I’m rich. For you, it is going to take thought, and work, and sacrifice, but you’ll figure it out.”

They spoke for a few more minutes, and before the old man vanished, “One last thing. Do not, under any circumstances, hit the lottery because you can pop to tomorrow and get the numbers. Simple, right? Well, it’s also a public means, and it screwed me over pretty bad. I jumped back and stopped myself. Saved me a lot of grief, questions, relatives I never heard of. It sucked!”

“OK.” Brandon said, “But nothing is stopping me from passing the numbers on to friends. Now, is there?”

“Yup. You are definitely me.” He stood, and they shook hands. “See you in the mirror!”

He faded and vanished. Brandon wanted to test out his newfound ability, so he ran home and changed into street clothes. Sitting in his living room, he thought about tomorrow, and the sky changed. Opening his laptop, he grabbed the numbers from last night’s lottery.

He headed out to the store and picked up a lottery ticket, making sure four of the numbers were correct. He paid the extra for the Powerball multiplier. He popped back home, then headed to the same store, where the man scanned the ticket.

“Sir. You won $500,000!”

“WOW!”

He headed to the lottery commission for his prize. The rest was history.